Abstract
Background
Children and their caregivers often experience anxiety related to a perioperative admission. A systematic scoping review was conducted to map the evidence for child life therapy, including the professional background of treating clinicians.
Methods
A scoping review was conducted using the Arksey and O’Malley methodology. Six databases: PubMed, CINAHL, PsychINFO, Cochrane Library, EMBASE and Web of Science were searched.
Results
After reviewing 578 titles and abstracts, and 55 full texts, 11 studies were retained. Included studies were randomised controlled trials (n = 5), retrospective studies (n = 3), descriptive studies (n = 1) and clinical studies (n = 2). Child life therapy was effective for anxiety, anaesthetic induction quality, child cooperation and parental satisfaction. Professions delivering interventions included Child Life Therapists, nurses and a multidisciplinary team.
Conclusion
There is emerging evidence for child life therapy which may be used to guide delivery of paediatric procedural support in perioperative settings. Further studies are needed to inform practice.
Keywords
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
